Vacancies offer GOP opportunity to reshape courts

WASHINGTON — Republicans have put President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee on the bench, and they’re now in a position to fill dozens more federal judgeships — and reshape some of the nation’s highest courts.

The Republicans’ opportunity comes with the GOP in control of Congress and the White House, about 120 vacancies in federal district and appeals courts to be filled and after years of partisan fights over judicial nominations.

Frustrated by Republican obstruction in 2013, then-majority Democrats changed Senate rules so judicial nominations for those trial and appeals courts are filibuster-proof, meaning it takes only 51 votes, a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, for confirmation.

“The Trump administration does have an opportunity to really put its mark on the future of the federal judiciary,” says Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the conservative Federalist Society and an adviser to Trump on the Gorsuch nomination.

There are currently 20 vacancies in the federal appeals courts, which are one step below the Supreme Court, and roughly 100 more in district courts, where cases are originally tried.